The Evolution of the YouTube Progress Bar (2005-2025)

kottke.org October 09, 2025 By Jason Kottke

Since launching in 2005, YouTube has changed the progress/volume/tool bar on their video player several times. Here’s what it’s looked like through the years:1

screenshots of the YouTbe progress bar from 2005 to 2025

I don’t remember the first two or three at all, but that 2008-2010 version is a nostalgia bomb, albeit a deceptive one. You might be fooled into remembering that it used to be very simple, but the whole progress/tool bar is cut off in the graphic above; here’s the full version.

I’d love to see versions of this for iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify, and other players.

  1. I don’t know who made the original…the furthest back I could track it was about a month ago on Reddit and FB.

Tags: design · YouTube

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org

Since launching in 2005, YouTube has changed the progress/volume/tool bar on their video player several times. Here’s what it’s looked like through the years:1

screenshots of the YouTbe progress bar from 2005 to 2025

I don’t remember the first two or three at all, but that 2008-2010 version is a nostalgia bomb, albeit a deceptive one. You might be fooled into remembering that it used to be very simple, but the whole progress/tool bar is cut off in the graphic above; here’s the full version.

I’d love to see versions of this for iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify, and other players.

  1. I don’t know who made the original…the furthest back I could track it was about a month ago on Reddit and FB.

Tags: design · YouTube

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org

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Published on October 09, 2025 by Jason Kottke

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